nd I hope by the use of proper stimulants to
recover him sufficiently to permit me to examine and dress his wounds,"
replied the surgeon, who now drew from his pocket a bottle of spirits of
hartshorn, poured some out in his hands, and began to bathe the forehead,
mouth and nostrils of the unconscious man.

The abbess drew nearer, stooped over the body, and gazed attentively into
the pallid and ghastly face, and then started with a half-suppressed cry
as she recognized the features of the man who had visited the Infants'
Asylum on the day previous, and whom the abbess now believed to be John
Scott, the half brother and the "double" of the Duke of Hereward.

"Will you kindly order some brandy, madam?" courteously requested the
surgeon.

"Certainly, monsieur," replied the lady superior, who immediately
dispatched a nun to fetch the required restorative.

As soon as it was brought, a few drops were forced down the throat of the
fainting man, who soon began to show signs of recovery.

"I should like to put my patient to bed, madam; but the nearest
farm-house is still too far off for him to be conveyed thither in safety.
The motion would start his wound to bleeding again, and the hemorrhage
might prove fatal," said the surgeon suggestively.

The abbess took the hint.

"Of course," she said, "the poor wounded man must remain here. I will
have a room prepared for him in our Old Men's Home. It will not take ten
minutes to get the room ready, and carry him to it. Can you wait so long,
good Doctor?"

"Assuredly, madam," answered the surgeon.

The abbess gave the necessary orders to a couple of young nuns, who
hurried off to obey them.

In less time than the abbess required, they came back and reported that
the room was ready for the patient.

"Now, then, Monsieur le Docteur, you may remove your patient," said the
abbess, courteously.

The surgeon, assisted by two of the countrymen, tenderly lifted the
wounded man, and laid him on the leaf of the gate, and, preceded by an
aged nun to show the way, bore him off toward the Old Men's Home.

One of the Englishmen and one of the gend'armes followed him.

The remaining two Englishmen and two gend'armes showed no disposition to
depart.

The abbess was not two well pleased at this masculine invasion of her
sanctuary, and so after waiting for some explanation of their presence
from these strange men, she went up to them and inquired, with suggestive
politeness:

"May we